paalw

I just looked through my archives and found this, I can't seem to remember it's ever been posted and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else. I photographed all the 44 pages. A lot of interesting and fun reading. Enjoy

GT6ixer

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

I've been theorizing for years here on RL and with friends that the popular narrative that the 928 was intended to replace the 911 was incorrect. You hear it in almost every story or video about the history of the 928. Projeckt 928 alludes to Porsche coming up with a design for the 928 as a way of hedging their bet that the 911 was going to be short lived for the American market. I always believed that was only a small part of why they would invest so heavily in the 928, their first ever clean sheet design. This booklet is the first material I have read from Porsche themselves that offers an alternative view to the popular myth that the 928 was designed to replace the 911.

Reading the first two pages and the page entitled "A Technical Alternative - Porsche 928" it is clear that the object of the car WAS NOT to replace the 911 but rather to increase Porsche products range and be offered as an alternative to the 911. I have offered this very sentiment before and with this document there is now written proof of Porsche's REAL intent for the 928.

hacker-pschorr

Awesome piece. Add this to my never ending list of pieces I need find for my collection.

It's not really a theory or a narrative, it's well known the 911 was slated to be retired after 1981 and probably would have been had Peter Schutz not taken over as CEO.

In a way, saying the 928 was replacing the 911 is incorrect since the 928 was moving Porsche in a different direction since it's a completely different car. This goes down the road of endless semantics. Either way, the original plan was the 928 would carry on as the 911 faded away.

This piece was most likely published long before it was to be known the 911 was being axed. The last thing any automaker wants is such information to be known publicly. This could very well be a marketing piece designed to kill rumors of the 911's demise since they still had to sell them for a few more years.

GT6ixer

I just don't view it that way. In 1972, Porsche was not planning to phase out the 911 in 1981. That was only the plan likely a few years previous, around the launch of the 928. So to the say the 928 was designed to replace the 911 is a falsehood IMO. Perhaps there was some sentiment with Porsche's decision makers in the late '70s that if the 911s run was to end that the 928 could pick up the void. But even that I don't buy. Porsche knew full well that the 928 was in a whole different class than the 911 and would never be a car that 911 enthusiasts would see as an equivalent or evolution. To assume that is to concede that Porsche had no clue about their customer base.

As far as the Schutz story goes, there is no refuting the fact that he saved the 911 and famously drew the line off the board and on to the wall. However, every story I ever read about that never attributes Schutz referring to the 928 as an unsuitable replacement for the 911 and thus why the 911 had to keep going. I believe he knew full we'll that the 928 was an up-class GT sports car, born into existence solely to expand Porsche's product line and was never intended to replace a potential loss in 911 sales.

928 GT R

Super cool piece!

Love the "polar moment" discussion and so many other details. In 78 this car was soooo far above its competition and it was deservedly expensive for many reasons.

Thank you for posting this one, I'll also be watching to add this to my collection!

Hack, the race is on! ;-)

jchasty

I said this very thing in a thread not too long ago and was shot down in flames!

My source was one of the marketing folks in Porsche UK, who worked there in the 70's & 80's - from the horse's mouth! He was at the 40th 928 Anniversary at Brooklands, England back in 2017:

Gallery: 928 anniversary at Brooklands | Porsche Club News | Porsche Club Great Britain (porscheclubgb.com)

Yes, I feel better now!

jchasty

Oh, and I love the fact that it starts: "Gentlemen...."

Shawn Stanford

A high-rez scan of that would be so choice...

linderpat

I think this is particularly true. I once asked Lori Schutz about this - she is our Zone 4 rep (PCA) and her dad was Peter, and she knows first hand a fair amount about this stuff. He indeed saved the 911 from phase out, but never said the 928 had to die off instead. For sure, had he intended that, he would have been a rather ineffective manager since from the 928 continued for another 14 years!


Back to that rare book - I love the photos of the preproduction models (you can tell by lack of bumper beading, at least on a couple of them). I really like the white painted phone dials. So, how much do you want for that item

M. Requin

Fantastic! Many thanks for taking the trouble to copy and post this. I'll have to print this out for reading on the "throne".

no.radar

That "test your knowledge" (with spaces for answers) section toward the end suggests this book was created to educate Porsche sales "gentlemen."

Really a nice find. And a high-resolution digital copy would be an amazing addition to the history binder I maintain for my 928.

drooman

Those are mostly prototypes or press cars pictured

linderpat

yes, that's what I figured too. Which one had the painted phone dials, is #1 one of them?

GP White 928 S4

This was a fun read, thanks for sharing! I didn't know the original 928 buyers were expected to haul horse trailers with their new premium GT car, or "that driving it with a caravan is fun!"

Rob Edwards

Dunno if this is high-res, but I ran the pics through Acrobat Pro and OCR'ed it and saved as a PDF. Enjoy:

https://webfiles.uci.edu/redwards/pu...%204-26-21.pdf